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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments Etymology Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina Click on the icon if you want to listen to the Italian Anthem The origin of the term "Italy" (It: Italia), from Latin Ītalia, is uncertain. According to one of the more common explanations, the term was borrowed through Greek, from Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle" (cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umb vitlo "calf") and named for the god of cattle, Mars. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italian tribes and it was often depicted as a symbol of free Italy during the Samnite Wars. The name Italia applied to a part of what is now southern Italy. It originally referred to the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula (modern Calabria), but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to use the name "Italia" for a greater region, but it was not until the time of the Roman conquests that the term was expanded to cover the entire peninsula.

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments Excavations throughout Italy and Sicily have surfaced evidence of human activity dating back to the Paleolithic period (also called "Old Stone Age", referring to the period between 2.5Million to 200,000 years ago), and the Mesolithic period. (Also called the "Middle Stone Age" til about 2700 BC). By the beginning of the Neolithic period, the small communities of hunters were replaced by agricultural settlements, with some stock breeding and widespread use of stone implements and pottery. Painted vessels that seem to have been influenced by contemporary styles in Greece have been found at Castellaro Vecchio on the island of Lipari. Early Italy Click on the icon if you want to listen to the Italian Anthem

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments The Language As for many other languages, the roots of the Italian Language date back to the Romans who imposed their Latin, or, as the Italians call it "Latino", on all people under their dominion. It is one of the Romance languages grouped under the Indo-European family of languages. Italian, considered the closest living language to Latin and it has got many dialects, generally, but not ever, of Latin origins.

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments The Flag The Italian tricolor was first established during the Napoleonic Wars by the Republica Cispadana (1797) in northern Italy, who styled it after the French tricolor. In 1848 the design was adopted by the house of Savoy, which went on to lead the Italian unification. The present flag was adopted in 1946, when Italy became a republic and the royal arms were removed. The original standard had the colors displayed vertically with the green at the hoist, representing the very first (known) model of the Italian "Tricolore", although it was only known at the time as a military flag. Napoleon himself described the colors in his message to the "Direttorio" (directorate) dated 11 October 1796 in reference to the constitution of the Lombard Legion Click on the icon if you want to listen to the Italian Anthem

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments On 02 June 1946 a popular election abolished the monarchy in favor of a republic; a new constitution was adopted the next year. The Christian Democrats, the Communists, and the Socialists became the leading political parties in the country. The largest of these parties, the Christian Democrats, first under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi, dominated the Italian government after 1948. De Gasperi stressed industrial growth, agricultural reform, and close cooperation with the United States and the Vatican. With massive U.S. aid, Italy underwent a remarkable economic recovery that saw rapid industrial expansion and a sharp increase in the standard of living. Italy joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, and the European Common Market (European Community) in 1958 The Republic Click on the icon if you want to listen to the Italian Anthem

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments The People Italians contributed significantly to world culture and scientific and technological progress. Italy produced some of the most influential sculptors, writers and painters. Notable examples include Michelangelo, Dante, Pirandello and Raphael. Italian composers and musicians, such as Vivaldi, Rossini and Verdi, contributed to the evolution of western music, and Italians are quoted for the creation of the opera. Great Italian scientists include Alessandro Volta, Guglielmo Marconi, Enrico Fermi, Galileo and Giordano Bruno. Italian contributions to architecture and engineering are of great importance. Famous Italian architects include Brunelleschi, Bernini and Palladio. The rise of humanism and modern commerce can be attributed to conditions found in Italy during the Renaissance. This atmosphere lead to the rise of the "universal man", of which Leonardo da Vinci can be considered the first example. Click on the icon if you want to listen to the Italian Anthem

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Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina The Language The Flag The Republic Early Italy Etymology The People Acknowledgments The Istituto Comprensivo Statale di Sellia Marina wants to thank The Comenius Project, our Polish Coordinator School, our Irish, Portuguese and Spanish Partners. Thanks to our efforts and cooperation we took another step towards Europe, we made concrete the European Education, we demonstrated we can be linked in the difference Exit